Prince William and Kate Middleton broke royal protocol on Easter -- accidentally

Prince William and Kate Middleton broke royal protocol over the weekend by arriving late to Easter church service — but they didn’t do it on purpose.

According to experts, the royal family typically arrive to events according to rank, meaning the Queen is the last person to make an appearance. However, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were stuck in traffic — and because of that, they arrived after the Queen to St. George’s chapel in Windsor. The royal couple were delayed thanks to roadwork on the M4 as they traveled from Bucklebury, where they spent the weekend celebrating Easter at the Middleton family home.

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Despite the traffic mishap, Prince William and Kate arrived shortly after the scheduled 10:45 a.m. service start time. Although some royal watchers criticized the pair for keeping the Queen waiting, one fan tweeted her support saying, “People hating on Will and Kate for arriving to Easter service after HM, the Queen. Have any of you never been delayed by a traffic jam? Not a whole lot you can do about it. Also, I guarantee HM was notified and decided to proceed with arrival anyway.”

Many royal fans were happy to see what is most likely Kate Middleton’s final public appearance before the birth of her third child this month. Kensington Palace confirmed that the Duchess officially began her maternity leave on March 22, which made her appearance on Easter Sunday a bit of a surprise in itself.

For the event, the Duchess wore a brown Catherine Walker coatdress and matching fascinator. If it looked familiar, that’s because she wore the same outfit (with different shoes and a clutch) to St. Patrick’s Day festivities in March, 2015, while pregnant with Princess Charlotte.

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The Queen was also joined by her newly engaged granddaughter Princess Eugenie and fiancé Jack Brookstone, daughter Princess Anne and granddaughter Zara Tindall. Noticeably absent from the Easter Sunday service were Prince Philip, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who stayed at Kensington Palace in London for a “private” weekend.

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